Pinterest 101 for Business

As I was creating our Online Pinterest Training Program I realized that many business owners still aren’t sure about the basics of Pinterest for business. Pinterest is the hottest new social network and it seems as though it almost came from nowhere. Pinterest now has a monthly average of 25 million unique visitors and is growing quickly. Pinterest isn’t just important for businesses because it is popular, but it also sends tremendous amounts of traffic to other sites. In addition, Pinners are more likely to buy from websites they go to from Pinterest and spend more.

As a business owner, you may still be deciding if Pinterest is right for you, so here are the basics on Pinterest that you may need to apply to your business.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is an online Pinboard – it allows users to create pinboards where they pin content based on the theme of the board. For example, I may create a board called Shoes I Love where I pin great shoes that I find from around the web. Alternately I may have a pinboard called Cool Stuff for the Office where I pin the coolest things that I find online for the office.

Pinterest allows you to share your interests and the amazing things that you find online by pinning content onto your pinboards.

Pinterest users love discovering and exploring new pins and boards based on the topics that they are most interested in.

How do you Pin Things to Pinterest?

When you see something online that you like and want to pin to a board, you can either use a browser plugin where you simply click on an icon on your internet browser, or you can go to Pinterest and choose to Pin new content.

Either way, it is very simple. The key thing that makes Pinterest different is that the focus of a pin is an image. Meaning, when you choose to pin something an image will show up as the focus point of a pin. This is what makes Pinterest a very visual website. Underneath the pin you may add a comment or description, but the image is the focus.

What Makes Pinterest Different?

What makes Pinterest different than other social networks is that content can be segmented by interest and has a longer life than traditional social media content.

First, Pinterest allows users to follow other people based on similar interests. For example, I can search for others who post about coffee and follow their boards and content. This is different than other social networks like Facebook and Linkedin, where you primarily connect with people you already know. In addition, while a person may post about their love of dinosaurs, BBQ, Halloween Costumes and social media, I can choose just to follow their social media boards. This means that rather than following an entire individual as I would on Twitter or Facebook, I can only follow the boards that interest me.

Content also has a longer life on Pinterest than it does on other social networks. On Facebook and Twitter, once you post something it quickly falls to the bottom of your feed as it is replaced with new content. On Pinterest however, content stays on the boards, making it easier to find and organize old content.

Can Businesses Create Accounts on Pinterest?

Yes. Businesses can create accounts on Pinterest. A business account is exactly the same as a personal account. It can be a great way to share information about your business, or to share information that your audience is interested in.

Pinterest can provide multiple benefits for your business including branding, awareness, lead generation and sales.

We’ll cover more on Pinterest for business in a future blog post – if you would like to learn exactly how to use Pinterest for your business, look for our next post, or checkout our Online Pinterest Training Program.